April 30, 2008

Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

Gluten free bread, whether commercially made, or made from scratch is largely hit or miss, especially when you are used to eating the glutenized equivalents. I've talked to several people who no longer can eat gluten and their reactions are largely hit and miss too. One person told me after not having gluten for years they still hadn't found a gluten free bread that was to their liking. Another told me that they had no problem switching over to gluten free breads and actually enjoyed their bread of choice. Jamison would squarely fall in the former category and not the latter and given he's a very picky eater (yeah I know) this bread journey has been an adventure in and of itself! I have to admit though he's been a very good sport.

Right after we found out that Jamison couldn't eat gluten we purchased a bread machine that has a gluten free setting and ironically the bread I ended up coming up with works better on the basic setting, than the gluten free one. What can you do? You do what works and in this case the basic setting is the one to go with.

This bread is really good for gluten free. It doesn't dry out after a day or two after some gluten free baked goods do. It has a very nice texture and a nice crumb too. The taste is also mild and it doesn't overpower what you're putting on your sandwich. We've been really pleased with this concoction and I bake a loaf every week or so so that Jamison has bread for his lunch to take to work. I have not tried it out in a conventional oven, though I intend to do that one day soon. So far we've just stuck to the bread machine because it's simple and I don't have to hover over the process. You just set it and go. If one of you gets adventurous and tries the conventional oven before I post anything about what might have occurred then let me know how your results turn out.

Into the well of your bread machine dump eggs through organic cane sugar. The machine will do the mixing for you so don't worry about stirring.

In a large bowl whisk or sift together sweet rice flour through sea salt until well incorporated. Once mixed dump the dry mixture on top of the wet ingredients. The machine will mix these together too. Dump yeast on top of the dry mixture and set the machine on the Basic 2 pound setting.

My machine also has a setting for light, medium or dark crust. If yours has this setting too then set it for medium. Start the machine and go back in and take a look between five and ten minutes to make sure that all the flour is incorporated. You may need to scrape down the sides of the well to make sure everything incorporates. I'm not sure why this is the case with gluten free breads, but I've had to do this with every loaf I've made even the mix I purchased. When the cycle is through and the bread has baked let it sit for 10 minutes in the machine and then remove the loaf from the pan and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

After the first mix and when you've scraped down the sides the dough will look like this:

The dough is very shaggy and makes a very rustic loaf.

After it has risen it will look like this:

Still shaggy, but roughly doubled in size.

The top and sides turn a lovely brown:

And thus your have your finished loaf. It's moist and holds up well and is easily sliced with a bread knife. It's just perfect for sandwiches.

Notes: Make sure that you use sweet rice flour and not just plain brown or white rice flour. It really adds to the texture and taste of the bread. Also the tapioca flour helps retain the moisture and give you the tender crumb. You could most likely use all honey or all organic cane sugar and it should work fine. The olive oil also lends to the crumb and flavor. You could substitute safflower oil or something if you wanted, but I wouldn't recommend that substitution.

Posted by Dianne at April 30, 2008 9:21 AM

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Jamison loves bread. While I can go days without even touching a single piece of bread, Jamison has always liked bread, in some shape or form, with every meal. When we discovered that he could not have gluten this... [Read More]

Dianne, All the gluten-free/wheat-free bread I have been finding has to be put in the freezer. I even purchased one that I was going to make in my conventional oven but then it states after cooling slice and put it in the freezer. Do you freeze the bread you make in the bread maker?

Posted by: Anita at May 16, 2008 6:41 PM

I store it in a airtight container at room temperature. I usually bake one loaf a week and then use it for Jamison as sandwiches for his lunch during the week. It stays soft for the entire week, which really surprised me (and still does surprise me the more gluten free ready made products we try). But this bread I've never frozen, we just use it right out of the container on the counter.

Hi,
Thanx for this recipee; i am just searching for a GF Bread recipee for my son; it has been very difficult so far; the best and tastiest I have found is some buns from Dietary special which he loves; I'll try this one as he just loves soft bread.
thanx
Aline

Posted by: Aline at April 12, 2009 11:48 AM

Hope he enjoys it! I know how hard it is to find gluten free things that even begin to compare!